Deafness is a condition with a high prevalence worldwide, produced primarily by the loss of the sensory hair cells and their associated spiral ganglion neurons (SGNs). Of all the forms of deafness, auditory neuropathy is of a particular concern. This condition, defined primarily by damage to the SGNs with relative preservation of the hair cells 1, is responsible for a substantial proportion of patients with hearing impairment 2. While the loss of hair cells can be circumvented partially by a cochlear implant, no routine treatment is available for sensory neuron loss since poor innervation limits the prospective performance of an implant 3. Using stem cells to recover the damaged sensory circuitry is a potential therapeutic strategy. Here, we present a protocol to induce differentiation from human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) using signals involved in the initial specification of the otic placode. We obtained two types of otic progenitors able to differentiate in vitro into hair cell-like cells and auditory neurons that display expected electrophysiological properties. Moreover, when transplanted into an auditory neuropathy model, otic neuroprogenitors engraft, differentiate and significantly improve auditory evoked response (ABR) thresholds. These results should stimulate further research into the development of a cell-based therapy for deafness.

Spontaneous action potential activity is crucial for mammalian sensory system development. In the auditory system, patterned firing activity has been observed in immature spiral ganglion cells and brain-stem neurons and is likely to depend on cochlear inner hair cell (IHC) action potentials. It remains uncertain whether spiking activity is intrinsic to developing IHCs and whether it shows patterning. We found that action potentials are intrinsically generated by immature IHCs of altricial rodents and that apical IHCs exhibit bursting activity as opposed to more sustained firing in basal cells. We show that the efferent neurotransmitter ACh, by fine-tuning the IHC’s resting membrane potential (Vm), is crucial for the bursting pattern in apical cells. Endogenous extracellular ATP also contributes to the Vm of apical and basal IHCs by activating SK2 channels. We hypothesize that the difference in firing pattern along the cochlea instructs the tonotopic differentiation of IHCs and auditory pathway.

Mammalian cochlear inner hair cells (IHCs) are specialized for the dynamic coding of continuous and finely graded sound signals. This ability is largely conferred by the linear Ca(2+) dependence of neurotransmitter release at their synapses, which is also a feature of visual and olfactory systems. The prevailing hypothesis is that linearity in IHCs occurs through a developmental change in the Ca(2+) sensitivity of synaptic vesicle fusion from the nonlinear (high order) Ca(2+) dependence of immature spiking cells. However, the nature of the Ca(2+) sensor(s) of vesicle fusion at hair cell synapses is unknown. We found that synaptotagmin IV was essential for establishing the linear exocytotic Ca(2+) dependence in adult rodent IHCs and immature outer hair cells. Moreover, the expression of the hitherto undetected synaptotagmins I and II correlated with a high-order Ca(2+) dependence in IHCs. We propose that the differential expression of synaptotagmins determines the characteristic Ca(2+) sensitivity of vesicle fusion at hair cell synapses.

The precision of sound information transmitted to the brain depends on the transfer characteristics of the inner hair cell (IHC) ribbon synapse and its multiple contacting auditory fibers. We found that brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) differentially influences IHC characteristics in the intact and injured cochlea. Using conditional knock-out mice (BDNF Pax2 KO) we found that resting membrane potentials, membrane capacitance and resting linear leak conductance of adult BDNF Pax2 KO IHCs showed a normal maturation. Likewise, in BDNF Pax2 KO membrane capacitance (⌬C m ) as a function of inward calcium current (I Ca ) follows the linear relationship typical for normal adult IHCs. In contrast the maximal ⌬C m , but not the maximal size of the calcium current, was significantly reduced by 45% in basal but not in apical cochlear turns in BDNF Pax2 KO IHCs. Maximal ⌬C m correlated with a loss of IHC ribbons in these cochlear turns and a reduced activity of the auditory nerve (auditory brainstem response wave I). Remarkably, a noise-induced loss of IHC ribbons, followed by reduced activity of the auditory nerve and reduced centrally generated wave II and III observed in control mice, was prevented in equally noise-exposed BDNF Pax2 KO mice. Data suggest that BDNF expressed in the cochlea is essential for maintenance of adult IHC transmitter release sites and that BDNF upholds opposing afferents in high-frequency turns and scales them down following noise exposure.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small noncoding RNAs able to regulate a broad range of protein-coding genes involved in many biological processes. miR-96 is a sensory organ-specific miRNA expressed in the mammalian cochlea during development. Mutations in miR-96 cause nonsyndromic progressive hearing loss in humans and mice. The mouse mutant diminuendo has a single base change in the seed region of the Mir96 gene leading to widespread changes in the expression of many genes. We have used this mutant to explore the role of miR-96 in the maturation of the auditory organ. We found that the physiological development of mutant sensory hair cells is arrested at around the day of birth, before their biophysical differentiation into inner and outer hair cells. Moreover, maturation of the hair cell stereocilia bundle and remodelling of auditory nerve connections within the cochlea fail to occur in miR-96 mutants. We conclude that miR-96 regulates the progression of the physiological and morphological differentiation of cochlear hair cells and, as such, coordinates one of the most distinctive functional refinements of the mammalian auditory system. deafness | mouse model | sensory system | currents | action potentials I n the mammalian cochlea, inner hair cells (IHCs) and outer hair cells (OHCs) transduce sound into electrical responses. IHCs are the primary sensory receptors that relay sound stimuli to the brain with high temporal precision via the release of neurotransmitter from their ribbon synapses onto type I spiral ganglion neurons (1). Synaptic ribbons are specialized organelles able to tether a large number of synaptic vesicles at the cell's active zones and are thought to allow sensory cells to mediate high rates of sustained synaptic transmission, coordinated release of multiple vesicles, and temporally precise transfer of information (2). OHCs provide electromechanical amplification of the cochlear partition to enhance the sensitivity and frequency selectivity of the mammalian cochlea via voltage-dependent electromotility, which is mediated by the motor protein prestin (3) and modulated by the inhibitory efferent cholinergic system (4). Before sound-induced responses begin at the onset of hearing, which occurs at around postnatal day 12 (P12) in most rodents, hair cells undergo a precise developmental program. Although hair cell maturation is known to be influenced by many proteins (5-9), we know little about the mechanisms underlying their biophysical and morphological development, especially those involved in the functional differentiation of IHCs and OHCs that occurs from around birth (10).MicroRNAs (miRNAs) regulate posttranscriptional gene expression programs by decreasing the level of target mRNA in mammals (11) and are involved in tissue development, cell fate specification, morphogenesis, and a range of diseases (12-16). Members of the miR-183 family (miR-96, miR-182, and miR-183) are specific to sensory organs (17, 18) and are highly expressed in the inner ear (19,20), eye (17), and nose (21). In the inner ear...

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The encoding of auditory information with indefatigable precision requires efficient resupply of vesicles at inner hair cell (IHC) ribbon synapses. Otoferlin, a transmembrane protein responsible for deafness in DFNB9 families, has been postulated to act as a calcium sensor for exocytosis as well as to be involved in rapid vesicle replenishment of IHCs. However, the molecular basis of vesicle recycling in IHCs is largely unknown. In the present study, we used high-resolution liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry to copurify otoferlin interaction partners in the mammalian cochlea. We identified multiple subunits of the adaptor protein complex AP-2 (CLAP), an essential component of clathrin-mediated endocytosis, as binding partners of otoferlin in rats and mice. The interaction between otoferlin and AP-2 was confirmed by coimmunoprecipitation. We also found that AP-2 interacts with myosin VI, another otoferlin binding partner important for clathrin-mediated endocytosis (CME). The expression of AP-2 in IHCs was verified by reverse transcription PCR. Confocal microscopy experiments revealed that the expression of AP-2 and its colocalization with otoferlin is confined to mature IHCs. When CME was inhibited by blocking dynamin action, real-time changes in membrane capacitance showed impaired synaptic vesicle replenishment in mature but not immature IHCs. We suggest that an otoferlin-AP-2 interaction drives Ca 2ϩ -and stimulus-dependent compensating CME in mature IHCs.